As the pensions industry prepares to gather in Manchester for Pensions UK’s annual conference, Pensions Expert editor Nick Reeve looks on the bright side of all the changes ahead.
It’s all too easy to be negative when there is so much change happening to the UK pensions sector.
We’re more than a month away from the Budget, for example, but we’ve already had weeks of speculation about tax changes affecting pensions. It’s been so intense this time around that AJ Bell has launched a petition calling for the government to introduce a “pension tax lock” to bring more certainty in this area. (It’s nearly at 10,000 signatures, at which point the government would have to respond.)
But rather than get bogged down in the complexities of pensions tax, this week I wanted to focus on some good news in our industry. I was inspired by People’s Pension chief investment officer Dan Mikulskis, who penned an excellent column for Pensions Expert this week looking ahead to the Pensions UK Annual Conference.
“In 22 years in this industry, I’ve never seen a period like this. Big ideas aren’t just being discussed – they’re being actioned. The debate is no longer about where we’re going; it’s about making it happen.”
Dan Mikulskis, People’s Pension
Defined benefit (DB) superfunds are a great example of this. For a while, it seemed like the promise of organisations like Clara Pensions might never become a reality, despite strong support around the industry. In the past 12 months, however, the consolidator has taken on four pension schemes – and it now looks to be getting some much-needed competition, as TPT Retirement Solutions is looking to add yet another string to its bow.
Why else should we be positive going into the final quarter of 2025? Well, most DB funds continue to enjoy strong funding positions, paving the way for some (hopefully) constructive discussions about use of surplus in the near future.
The industry is also facing up to big challenges for defined contribution (DC) provision, including raising the standards of DC operators through measures in the Pension Schemes Bill, and the pensions dashboards project promises to bring important transparency to individual savers.
There’s the prospect of collective DC on the horizon too, with its potential to improve pension outcomes, and the Pensions Commission is working on how to solve important inadequacy and inequality issues.
I’ll be in Manchester next week for the Pensions UK Annual Conference, where all of these issues and more will be addressed, and I’m hopeful of more positivity ahead. Be sure to look out for Pensions Expert’s live blog, covering the big stories for those who can’t be there in person.
